CAS85

It’s been a few weeks since I have been able to participate in the CAS challenge at SCS! Today’s is a fall color challenge of kraft, red, vanilla & brown. My sister won a triathalon in SC yesterday; she came in first in her age class, so I thought this little card would be fun to send to her. We both love coffee and I certainly don’t have any triathalon-type stamps, so I thought she would get a kick out of this:

I love the embossing technique that Silke did here, so I cased that; her stamping is perfection! I struggled with wanting to add a ribbon or something, but I stuck with CAS! Okay, busy day, gotta run! Edited to add: the mini embossing folder I used is from Cuttlebug; it is called Just My Type.

• Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits, Essential Sentiments, MFT
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
• Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip
• Acc: CB EF, Scorer, 1/2” Circle Punch, Dimensionals

And here is my sister Gail (out of us three girls, she definitely got the athletic gene!):

Gail & Russ:

I’m pretty darn proud of her! Thanks for visiting today!

Paper Players Sketch 16

Ah, I love a good sketch!  And I love Lesley’s Paper Players sketch today because it has THREE elements!!  I love threes!  And being a sketch, I can incorporate it into my weekly Christmas card!  So here’s the sketch:

 

and here’s the card:

I just love these little images from Every Little Bit; I stamped them in Stazon, then colored them with ink and a blender pen and mounted them on Baja Breeze square scallop that had been smooshed into my Versamark pad and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice EP.  Here’s a closer look:

I also die cut some little Christmas trees with the Merry Details diecut and did the same sparkly effect on them:

This just makes me smile!  The DP is from the Candy Cane Christmas  collection---such fun snowflakes on a Baja Breeze background---I love it!  Paired with Real Red and Wild Wasabi, it really makes for a happy Christmas card!

So skate on over to the Paper Players blog so you can see what the designers came up with and play along with us as well!  It’s been so fun from week to week, seeing what you created!

• Stamps:  Merry Crittermas, Every Little Bit
• Paper:  WW, Real Red, Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, Candy Cane Christmas DP
• Ink:  Stazon, Real Red, Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, Versamark
• Acc:  Iridescent Ice EP, Square Scallop Punch, Small & Large Oval Punches, Merry Details Diecut, Narrow Ribbon, Dimensionals, Blender Pen, Nesties

My granddaughter had her one month checkup on Friday; before we went to the doctor’s I sat her up on our couch.  I told Pop-Pop to watch her while I got my camera. 

I know she’s not really “smiling” but she sure looks happy, doesn’t she?  Uh oh, then Pop-Pop sat down next to her:

She’s not too sure of him…..he hasn’t been around enough for her to get used to him……and then we got THIS look:

And then the tears came!!!  Pop-Pop is going to have to improve his babysitting skills!!! :D

CCMC116 Bundle of Love

I have missed participating in some of the great challenges out in blogland, so I was thrilled to be able to make a baby card for a family at our church using Connie & Mary’s fun sketch:

Baby Bundle is such a cute set, full of little fun images. Here is what I came up with:

I made my own teeny tiny buttons:

by punching two holes side by side with a 1/8” punch, then punching them out again with a 1/4” punch…voila, a little button! The little safety pin from Vintage Trinkets added a sweet little touch! Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps: Baby Bundle
• Paper: WW, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz, Patterns DP, Nursery Suite Specialty DP
• Ink: Basic Brown, Regal Rose, Baja Breeze
• Acc: Blender Pen, Oval Punches, 1/8”, 1/4” & 3/4” Circle Punches, Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Trinket, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Dimensionals

And our own sweet little bundle of love:

Fall Fun

A quick post today, I wanted to show you a couple hostess gifts I made for my club girls:

This little treat box is made from two Tangerine Tango envelope diecuts and decorated with Nite Owl DP and Silver Tinsel from the holiday mini.

The little candy corn box is from a template you can find here; I used a 4 1/4”x11” piece of white cardstock, along with Daffodil Delight, wheeled with the Cornelli Lace jumbo wheel and Tangerine Tango Patterns DP.

And finally a fun card made with a little Halloween-themed Bingo card:

This also qualifies for the Pals Paper Arts Halloween Inspiration challenge!

• Stamps: Fangtastic, Oval All
• Paper: Tangerine Tango, More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Basic Black, Nite Owl DP, Patterns DP
• Ink: Stazon, Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi
• Acc: Acrylic Block, Scallop Circle Punch, Circle Punches, Designer Label Punch, Envelope Diecut, Taffeta Ribbon, Button, Brayer, Sponge Daubers, Markers, Glitter Brads, Blender Pen, Pastels, Digi Bingo Card

And yesterday we went to a local county fair; check out Cassidy’s little blue jeans:

and here she is with my niece Kelly:

Now I know why we’re called “GRAND” parents—it IS grand!

Color Throwdown 110

Hey everyone!  It’s Wednesday, it’s Color Throwdown day, and it’s my turn to be the hostess!  I chose these elegant colors today:

I love these colors but for some reason struggled each step of the way in making my card:

First, I tried a sketch; then I tried a different image, nothing was coming together….ever have a day like that?  Oh well, as my boss used to say, “It is what it is!”  I did learn a cool technique from Jen Timko….ink up one of your acrylic blocks and stamp it directly on the cardstock….it creates a nice hazy square or rectangle, (reminiscent of Little Shapes), perfect to stamp your image over top.   Can you see it here?  I used Pink Pirouette ink:

And I do like the Basic Gray medallion, which was spritzed with some silver Shimmer paint mixed with a little bit of alcohol:

Those Antique brads are SO pretty—I even added a little pearl on top of this one to make it extra-special!  So let’s see what you can do with these colors---get yourself over to the CTD blog and play along….similar colors are acceptable!  All the details will be there, along with the other designers’ samples, or you can look at them here:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• Kristen – Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Silke Ledlow – My Life

• Stamps:  Artistic Etchings, Occasional Quotes, Very Vintage Wheel
• Paper:  WW, Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry, Vellum Cardstock
• Ink:  Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry
• Acc:  CB Embossing Folder, Nestie, Taffeta Ribbon, Antique Brads, Pinked Hearts Border Punch, Acrylic Block, Silver Shimmer Paint & Alcohol; Pearls, Sponge Dauber, Dimensionals

Sneakin’ in another picture of my sweet little granddaughter, this time with my nephew who just got married:

(My sister LOVES this picture!)  And that’s his wife peeking around the corner!  Enjoy your day!

ColourQ 50

Happy Tuesday to everyone, and it is a happy sunny one here in PA!  Aren’t these fun colors for an almost-fall day?  The ColourQ maven Arielle has chosen some of Stampin’Up!’s new In Colors for our palette this week!  I have back-to-school on my mind….isn’t it funny how even though I’ve been out of school for many, many years, this time of year still evokes those feelings of anticipation…shopping for new clothes, seeing old friends, the smell of  cafeteria food and well, you get the picture!  Anyway, I pulled out a Kim Hughes set for my back-to-school CQC card today:

I used the Fall to Layout 107 for my sketch (sort of):

and used several of the Patterns DP from SU to incorporate my colors.  This is such a fun set…..I kept getting ideas for using all the little elements, so you may see it again this week!  We’d love to have you play along with these fun fall colors, so scoot along over to the ColourQ blog and see what the other designers did…..and show us what YOU can do!  Even if you don’t have these exact colors, you can use something close!  So hop to it!

• Stamps:  Making The Grade, CHF
• Paper:  Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Patterns DP in Peach Parfait & Pear Pizzazz
• Ink:  Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
• Acc:  Markers, Dimensionals, Grosgrain, Scallop Border Punch, Small Oval Punch

Assortment Day

I don’t have anything to post yet today that is stamped by me, but I do have a couple things to share!

First, I wanted to give you the pattern for my stairstep card that I posted here.   There are lots of patterns out there for these, but mine make the stairs slightly graduated.  And I apologize for not being techie-savvy with a nice Acrobat file or something….mine is just a little hand-drawn one:

It seems daunting, but it’s not!!!  Having a Fiskars cutter where you can insert the cutting blade at any place along the ruler is helpful in making the first cut, which is indicated by the solid line.   If you don’t have a Fiskars cutter, you can do this with an Exacto knife or snap blade cutter.  Then do your scoring, and make your folds.  (The measurements for the folds are all measured from the bottom edge.)  If you have any other questions, just leave them in the comments and I’ll try to reply.  Hope it is helpful!

While I was on blogging vacation, I got some cute cards and goodies; here is a card from my upline, Pennie:

and this adorable card from my sweet blogging friend Michelle:

Now this card is very special, because it matches this:

I squealed so much when this came in the mail, my husband came running!  And she sent this as well:

See what it says:

SO cute---thanks so much, Michelle!

And finally, I organized a little Lancaster County, PA, “stamp shop hop” for some friends a few weeks ago:

This photo was taken in the front yard of one of the Amish shops we visited; it was a gorgeous day and the flowers were beautiful!  That’s Bunny, Ellen, Billie, Carol, me and Cathy (cathymac on SCS).   Thanks to Larry, Ellen’s husband, who was our chauffeur and photographer!  Here’s another, with a fantastic view of the rolling hills of Lancaster County; this was the backyard of another Amish shop/home.  I want to LIVE here!

And this sweet little vignette greeted us as we walked into her home:

Those little pink Crocs were just so cute!!!  And Cathy very kindly made us all these wonderful note pads:

I have such wonderful friends!  And finally, a little peek of Cassidy with her daddy:

Hope to see you later with something  stamped! xoxoxo